[[Image:RailgunArt.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Railgun{{Fn|9}}]]The '''Railgun''' is one of the most a powerful weapons in [[Warhammer 40,000Tau]] and is used by the [[TauRail Weapon]]. It fires a magnetically-accelerated hypervelocity projectile to destroy heavily armoured vehicles.¹ ² It can be used in conjunction with a on [[MarkerlightBattlesuit]] to make it even more accurates, vehicles and starships.

Known Tau vehicles which use At its most basic form the railgun:*is a linear accelerator using standing wave acceleration along a number of cylindrical superconductive electrodes surrounding a barrel.{{Fn|5b}} For suits like the [[Hammerhead GunshipBroadside Battlesuit]]*and vehicles like the [[Battlesuit#Broadside Battlesuit|Broadside BattlesuitHammerhead Gunship]]*[[Tiger Shark, this technology is used to propel a solid slug at hypervelocity, capable of penetrating even the toughest enemy armour.{{Fn|AX-1-0 Tiger Shark]]}}{{Fn|5a}}

Hammerhead Railguns are also capable of firing a special bundle of sophisticated submunitions useful against large groups of enemies.{{Fn|1}}{{Fn|5b}} The Railgun mounted on Hammerheads solid slug fired by these weapons will easily punch through the armoured front glacis of a [[Space Marine]] [[Predator]].³ However, it {{Fn|2a}} but will not penetrate the same spot on a [[Baneblade]], though it may cause multiple hits are capable of causing some minor damage against to the side armour.³ {{Fn|2b}} The '''Heavy Railguns''' found on [[Manta]]s and [[Tiger Shark#A-X-10|Tiger Shark]] variants are terrifying weapons, capable of taking out [[Super-heavy vehicle]]s and even [[Warhound Scout Titan]]s. It may They are also fire capable of firing a special bundle of submunitions designed to take out submunition round, guided by a larger number of smaller [[Drone]]-level intelligence and fitted with stabilising fins for extra lift and range in an atmosphere. While useful against ground targets such , their primary purpose is for targeting the weakspots in enemy starship armour since they lack the same penetrating power as infantrythe standard slug.² {{Fn|3a}}{{Fn|3b}} Despite Tau advances in superconductor technology, Railguns also exist in mounted on [[Tau Vessels (List)|Tau Starships]] are of such monstrous size and require such large amounts of energy to fire that they are grouped into batteries and fired one barrel at a time sequential order, ensuring the smaller rifle version (first barrel is loaded and ready before it is charged again. They are considered comparable to [[Imperial]] [[Weapons Batteries]].{{Fn|4}} ===Patterns===*[[Rail Rifle]]) - Infantry-sized weapon used by [[Pathfinder Teams ]]s and [[Sniper Drone Teams but isn]]s{{Fn|6}}*'''Heavy Rail Rifle''' - Used by Newer Generation [[Broadside Battlesuit]]s{{Fn|8}}*'''Railgun'''t as reliable as the vehicle mounted version as it can sometimes kill the user (much like the - Found on [[ImperialHammerhead Gunship]] s and [[Plasma GunBroadside Battlesuit]]). However, as of the third sphere expansion, advancements in the technology have eliminated the possibility of a misfires. {{Fn|1}}*'''Heavy Railcannon''' - Founded on [[KX139 Ta'unar]] [[Battlesuit]]s{{Fn|7}}*'''Heavy Railgun''' - Found on [[Manta]]s and [[Tiger Shark#A-X-10|Tiger Shark]]s{{Fn|3a}}*'''Starship Railgun Batteries''' - Large version found on Tau spacecraft{{Fn|4}}*'''Heavy Starship Railguns''' - Largest version mounted on larger Tau spacecraft{{Fn|10}}

{|align<gallery heights="120px" widths="center180px" valignmode="toppacked"|valigncaption="top"|[[File:>Broadside Battlesuit.jpg|thumb|200px|Broadside Battlesuit with twin-linked Railguns]]|valign="top"|[[File:Tau Hammerhead RailgunMain.jpg|thumb|300px|Hammerhead Gunship with RailgunHeavyRailCannon.jpg|[[KX139]]with Heavy Rail CannonBroadside1.jpg|[[XV88 Broadside Battlesuit]] with twin-linked Heavy Rail Rifle{{Fn|8}}TwinRailgun.jpg|Twin Railgun Starship Battery{{Fn|10}}BFGHeavyRailgun.jpg|Heavy Starship Railgun{{Fn|10}}</gallery> ==See also==*[[Projectile Weapons]]*[[Tau Weaponry (List)]]

==Related ArticlesSources==* {{Endn|1}}: [[Projectile Codex: Tau Empire (7th Edition)]], pg. 117, ''Rail Weapons''*2: [[Courage and Honour (Novel)]]**{{Endn|2a}}: Chapter Twelve**{{Endn|2b}}: Chapter Thirteen*3: [[CategoryImperial Armour Volume Three - The Taros Campaign]]**{{Endn|3a}}: Pg. 208**{{Endn|3b}}: Pg. 198*{{Endn|4}}: [[Battlefleet Gothic Armada]], Pg. 98*5: [[Codex:Tau Empire (4th Edition)]]**{{Endn|5a}}: {{Cite Marker End}}**{{Endn|5b}}: pg. 30*{{Endn|6}}: [[Codex: Tau Empire (7th Edition)]], pg. 117, Ranged Weapons - Rail Weapons *{{Endn|7}}: [https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/resources/PDF/Datasheets/Tau-Kx139-Ta%E2%80%99unar.pdf Forgeworld] (last accessed 10/14/2020)*{{Endn|8}}: [http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat440160a&prodId=prod1990134a Games Workshop]*{{Endn|9}}: [[Codex: Tau(3rd Edition)]], pg. 18*{{Endn|10}}: [[de:MassebeschleunigerBattlefleet Gothic Armada 2]]

==Further ReadingExternal links==

==Sources=={{TauWeapons}}{{ProjectileWeapons}} *¹ [[CodexCategory: Tau (3rd Edition)Naval Weapons]]*² [[CodexCategory: Tau Empire (4th Edition)Projectile Weapons]]*³ [[Courage and Honour Category:Weapons (NovelTau)]] by  [[Graham McNeillde:Massebeschleuniger]]